Question

I want to write a utility in my program which can convert a string to int. I know that I could use atoi or strtol for it but I need some error handling on it. Which is the better way to do it? Should I create a simple global function, maybe only in a specific namespace, or create a class that have a member which can do it for me?

For eg.:

    namespace utility{

        int ConvertStrToInt(std::string* str, int& convertednum)
        {
          //do the conversion and error handling
        return convertednum;
        }
    }

or

    class Utility{
    public:
        static int ConvertStrToInt(std::string* str, int& convertednum)
        {//do the conversion and error handling here} 
    }

Sorry if the question sounds a bit silly but I am in a team with 2 other guy and we think about this very differently. 1 says the class is for everything and make classes for everything, and I think that for such a simple problem a simple function is a good solution.

So which is the more efficient? When should I use a simple function and when is the point from where class is the good solution?

Thx for everyone!

Answer 1

The class Utility as you have written it down above somehow contradicts the idea behind object oriented programming, as the method neither uses nor depends on any members of the class. Classes should rather be objects that have certain properties and methods on these properties.